ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 joins the 800W club after a small PCB mop
ASUS’ ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 5090 30th Anniversary Limited Edition ships with an 800 W power limit vBIOS, and modders have been trying to get that firmware running on other cards.
The catch is that the Matrix vBIOS does not flash cleanly onto ASUS’ own ROG Astral models, with the ASUS ROG Astral LC GeForce RTX 5090 called out as a problem case. Reports suggest the same Matrix image does work on some RTX 5090 boards from other vendors, which points to model-specific hardware differences rather than a universal lockout.
HardwareLuxx says the Astral lineup has at least one wiring difference depending on the color variant. On the black ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090, the rear fourth fan shares a connection with the front middle fan. The white Astral reportedly has a dedicated connector for the fourth fan, which changes how the card behaves when a different vBIOS expects separate control.
Source: HardwareLuxx/TurboGear
A HardwareLuxx forum user “turbogear” claims a workaround exists, but it requires a physical PCB modification. The change involves the SI (serial-in) signal line of the EEPROM: moving a tiny resistor so the SI line uses a pull-up instead of a pull-down. That is fine-pitch soldering on a flagship GPU, so the risk is obvious, and there is no warranty-friendly way to describe it.
Source: HardwareLuxx/TurboGear
So far, the mod has reportedly been tested on three black ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 cards, all water-cooled. Obviously since there’s a change to how fan controllers work on MATRIX, this will not work on air-cooled Astral models.
Needless to say, this mod is not for everyday users, rather for enthusiasts who are willing to risk modifications and, as a result, lose the warranty.
Source: HardwareLuxx , TechPowerUP
